Carbon nano-tube coated with iron carbide catalysis for hydrolysis of magnesium to generate hydrogen

Hydrolysis of magnesium (Mg) or their composites are considered as an efficient, economical and enabling technique to produce hydrogen (H 2 ). In this study, carbon nano-tube coated with iron carbide (CNT@Fe 3 C) was synthesized and applied as a catalyst to promote hydrolysis of Mg to generate H 2 . Ball milling technique was employed to prepare Mg-Xwt%CNT@Fe 3 C (X = 0.2, 2.0, 5.0 and 10.0) composites for hydrolysis in seawater. Among employed composites, the results demonstrated that the introduction of small amount of CNT@Fe 3 C promote the hydrolysis kinetics of Mg. Particularly, Mg-5.0 wt%CNT@Fe 3 C composite ball milled for 1 h released 866.5 mL/g H 2 with 10072.0 mLg −1 min −1 initial hydrogen generation rate mHGR and demonstrated an excellent composite. Furthermore, activation energy of Mg hydrolysis kinetic dropped to 23.6 kJ/mol. Hence, CNT@Fe 3 C inhibited the magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH) 2 ) from sticking to the unreacted Mg surfaces, which enhanced its galvanic corrosion and reactivity. In order to develop portable H 2 generators, CNT@Fe 3 C supported Mg system can provide clean H 2 to reduce the adverse environmental effect.